EXiT 185 Improv Comedy

Your first night of Improv performance and you are actually, good old fashioned nervous. You have not felt this way in a long time. Definitely out of the comfort zone, now!

Wait. This is something you wanted to do. It seemed like a good decision a few weeks ago. What will you do? How can you ensure your success?

When you first looked at Improv, you picked a troupe that you liked, and would be comfortable with. You got with a teacher or coach you had some respect for and got some training. Sure you do not know everything that will happen, but you do know a basic framework of how it should work. So what is it you need to do?

COMMIT! That’s right. This is something you can do, and you can control. Decide it will work. Focus on doing your part and rely on your fellow cast members to do their parts. They too, are committed to that show, to that time, to that group.

Suddenly everything is clearer. All you need to do is commit to this. And sure enough, as you meet for the curtain call, your warm-up coach has selected some exercises that help prepare you. Your peers are encouraging and you really are in this thing together.

You get in tune with the cast, get pumped up and run to the stage as the group is introduced, throwing your self in. And lo and behold … it works! The show was fun, the audience enjoyed it and your peers talk about all the unexpected twists and turns. Yeah, this is really fun!

Each show will be different. You will grow and learn many things. But you always return to the basics. And one of the most basic elements for a successful show or rehearsal is, commit to it.

See you at the footlights!

I am an eighth grade English teacher. In the past year, I attended two different conferences on two different subjects in which the presenter recommended the book Mindset by Carol Dweck. It was available at my local library, so I thought I’d give it a try.

I started reading with an educator’s eye, but the further I got, the more my mind started drawing comparisons to my interest in improvisation. The author explains that there are two basic mindsets—fixed and growth. If you have a fixed mindset, you see your skills and intelligence as things you can’t change. If you have a growth mindset, you believe you can improve your skills and intelligence, and you see criticism is an opportunity to better yourself.

How does this apply to improv? I completed a four-course improvisational theater program through The Torch Theatre in Phoenix. After graduation I joined several troupes, with whom I rehearse and perform regularly. I’ve had some awful shows and some great ones, but I feel that ever since I took my final Torch class my skills have steadily declined. I need feedback to know that I am learning and growing as an improviser.

Will there ever be a point at which I can’t learn anything more from an improv class? Maybe, but I have a growth mindset, so the more classes I take and the more feedback I get, the more I learn about life. Taking these classes improved my acting, public speaking, and job skills; how can I ever have too much of that?

My suggestions to you are: One, read this book. Two, take an(other) improv class. At the very least, you’ll learn some things about yourself. At the most, you’ll fall in love with it and become a life-long student of improv.